1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an adjustable reflector having several rotatable reflector elements, each of these reflector elements having a reflective surface.
2. Description of Related Art
Reflectors are generally used to deflect electromagnetic radiation such as light. Reflectors are frequently used for advertising purposes, in connection with signaling systems or for the purpose of directing sunlight in a particular direction, for example, to a solar collector. The reflectors, or its reflector elements, must be rotated in order to change the angle of reflection, for instance, to adjust to the changing position of the sun.
An adjustable reflector of the above type is generally disclosed in the U.K. Patent Application GB 2 255 195 A. In such adjustable reflectors, it is not necessary to align the entire reflector, which is frequently very bulky, in order to change the direction of the surface normal of the reflector surface and thereby the direction of the reflected rays. This can be accomplished by adjusting the individual rotatable reflector elements of this type of reflector in such a way that the surface normal of their respective reflector surfaces are rotated to a particular direction thereby obtaining the required reflection angle. This type of reflectors are also disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,304,218 and in the French reference FR 2 688 601-A1.
In these prior art adjustable reflectors, mechanically connecting the reflector elements in order to rotate them together in parallel has proven to be a major technical problem. The requirements of precision and speed when changing the direction of the reflector elements could only be met to a limited extent in these prior art reflectors because of the relatively complicated structure of their reflector elements and/or their operating mechanism. In addition, such prior art reflectors do not provide a quick response time so that they could not be effectively used in applications where an objective was to change the performance of a solar collector by quickly adjusting and/or "de-adjusting" the reflector within a short span of time.